vickichowder: STREET

NIGHT + MARKET, LOS ANGELES

I love Thai food, so I'm very biased when it comes to the identical-taste-to-Thai-street-food food on the table.

We lucked out and parked right in front of the restaurant

This place has two locations which have been said to be very busy with customers, but we arrived super early and happened to be the third party of the night.

Coconut steamed rice. Presentation won us over. And when you open the lid, the aroma wins you over. When you eat it, the taste wins you over. Win win win. Good (but nothing out of the ordinary, just feels like very comforting comfort food)

Salt baked fish. Had this first on the street in Thailand and fell in love. Fish here was rather small and didn't have that much meat, so the salt-crustedness was much more prominent here. Salt to fish meat ratio was off. Larger fish would have done this some more justice. Okay

3 types of dipping sauces, but still did not meet the hyped up expectation I had of this dish. Okay

Yes real Thai papaya salad. Spicy, crunchy, roasted peanuts, sweet. Raw green beans, green papaya, sweet cherry tomatoes. Very good

Sausage, spicy, salty, sweet, aromatic. I love how Thai food combines everything I love into one bite.

Spicy deep fried calamari. Topped with deep fried basil (my fave). Not overly salty like the pork and sausages, but extremely spicy. Loved the sour and sweet sauce though. Very good, must order again

Spicy pork, lots of cilantro/herbs, was delish with rice or on its own (albeit, salty again). Good

Sticky rice. Still regretting that we didn't get the mango sticky rice for dessert (was too full anyway though, but still, there should always be room for sweet bites after a savoury meal). Nothing special with this one here.

Fermented sausages. Salty, tangy, salty. The raw veggies on the side are very necessary. Not spicy so my Chinese friends were able to consume. (lol but I'm Chinese too) Should definitely be eaten with rice. Okay

Hm, so you might think,

Wow all these raw cucumbers, green beans, cabbage - does it taste good, do you really eat it?

Yes, dear reader, when your food is spicy and salty those are very much needed to keep you going through the rest of the delicious food.

Beautiful lighting thanks to the window seat

P/S

Yes, it has been a while.

So back at home I happen to go to dimsum almost every Sunday after church.
Seeing that I'm not at home and not going to the ritualistic dimsum post-church was making me feel rather uncomfortable and homesick

So we had dimsum and strolled around a seemingly Vietnamese community situated in what is called 'Chinatown'

This fishing game

Dear readers, next post will be what we've had for brunch!

, by vickichowder

CENDOL

SS15 ROJAK & CENDOL, MALAYSIA

During my one and a half month stay in Petaling Jaya (right outside of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur), I was lucky enough to be able to eat at this famous street side stall about four times.

Rojak is a mix of cut up things tossed in a sauce, and was what I waited in line for 15 minutes to eat. The rojak that I like the most is the Indian one, or what they call mamak rojak in Malaysia.

Mamak rojak, or Indian rojak, consists of a variety of deep fried dough fritters (that have different taste and textures), bean curd, hard boiled egg, cuttlefish, grated cucumber, and grated all in a thick spicy and sweet sauce rich in ground peanuts.

There are many other places to eat rojak, and I find that each stall has their own rendition on it. After trying out a few, I can say that this roadside stall has the best and the forever-long-lineup of people will sure to agree with me. This is something that you must eat there since when you open it up at home in the plastic bag, you will find the deep fried dough fritters a bit soggy from the moisture from the vegetables.

After that you'll need a palate cleanser, and in a lineup (or sometimes cluster) of people a few tables down, you will hear the refreshing sound of ice shaving - the exact place to tend to your hot body (after standing on the roadside under the Malaysian heat of course).

Composed of freshly shaved ice, gula melakka (coconut palm sugar), green noodle-like jelly, red beans, corn kernels, and coconut milk.

Their home-cooked red beans are boiled in water, sugar, and a hint of salt (which gives this cendol its distinct taste).

Also served is a cendol with glutinous rice, although most people just go and order a regular cendol which is served in a plastic bowl atop a plastic plate. You are then to leave the spoon, bowl, along with the plate anywhere in the vicinity as someone will collect it, wash it, and fill it with more for the next customers (the same goes for the rojak).

Cendol is something you can order at almost every food court (read about food courts in Malaysia here!) but if you've tried it before already, please do try this one because it has a very special taste you cannot forget.

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

After getting the OK from my dentist saying that I can go to the gym again a week after my wisdom teeth extraction I have indeed taken advantage of the fact that I'll only be able to go to my local gym a couple of weeks before I move back to Waterloo.

And so there I was so happy that I went to the gym until my friends proclaimed that they would be would be going to eat. At like 2300.

Big Bang shrimp for those Big Bang fans

I gave in and shared a salad with my girlfriend who never goes to the gym except for that night

Well then please keep checking my blog for the remaining parts of my Asia trip - as I'm afraid it may take me several months and will power and the opposite of procrastination to deliver all the good food and destinations to your computer screen.

Who else is dreading the new school year?

, by vickichowder

BEAN SPROUT

IPOH, MALAYSIA

If there is only one dish you can eat during your first visit to Ipoh, it is undoubtedly their bean sprout chicken (served with their hor fun noodles).

At one of the four corners of a very busy intersection filled with people cars and other means of transport, the restaurant Lou Wong stands out from the rest as tables and people occupy a good portion of the street to eat, or wait to eat here.

We ate here instead of Lou Wong

I came with a large group of people (more than 15 if I remember correctly), and it would have been a very slim chance that there would have been a table (or two side by side ones) that could accommodate us without having to wait a ridiculous wait time. So instead of standing there hopelessly waiting for seats, we walked a bit down the street and found an air-conditioned restaurant that just had their largest table vacant.

My first thoughts on bean sprout chicken was that it was poultry cooked with bean sprouts in some way (I mean why else is it called bean sprout chicken?). So when the dish of bean sprouts arrived on the table, I was terribly surprised to find that it was just a mound of bean sprouts, and beside it, a plate of chicken. Though it was not what I had imagined, it did not disappoint me at all:

Much shorter and fatter, these bean sprouts taste nothing like any I've ever had. They are much sweeter, juicier, and have this bean sprout taste (what every bean sprout should have but unfortunately don't).

The chicken, on the other hand, is much like the chicken you eat at a better Chinese restaurant. Final verdict on this dish? Chicken is not that special but the bean sprouts are a must have.

Unlike your typical Chinese restaurant, we are in Malaysia after all, no rice is served here, but fresh-made hor fun. It's in a chicken broth that is very flavourful, but not to be consumed alone by the spoonful - instead, taken with a spoonful of noodles or bean sprout.

The chicken feet is deboned and topped with a sour and spicy dressing. Sadly, the chicken feet is very bland and tasted like nothing. I ended up just eating the onion and ginger topping.

Before you leave this restaurant though, do take a deep breath of their freshly baked batches of kaya puffs (kaya is pronounced gai yang): a flaky triangular pastry filled with a creamy coconut curd: made on-site.

The kaya puff maker let me taste a thumb-ful of their original kaya (there was also the pandan flavour) while he was making them.

Diving further into the night, we arrive at a food court:

A variety of fresh fish balls in broth

Barley beancurd ginko nut dessert soup

Variety fruit ice: jackfruit, toddy palm, dragon fruit, lychee, longan, jellies, ice, ice cream, syrup...

Pork innards congee

You pick, they grill, and you dredge them in whatever sauce(s) you fancy

Charcoal grilled chicken wings: so much better than any wings I've had in those wings restaurants and a great way to end the night

**

Like Penang, you will need comfort food for the morning meal:

This is RM 3.50 ~ CDN 1.17

This is called "lui char", where char is the character for tea, a very misleading name for this dish. It is actually a dish of two parts. The green concoction (many local herbs, mint leaves, small dried shrimp, garlics, blended and cooked to a beautiful green hue), and the bowl of diced toppings (dried tofu, beans, seaweed, fresh vegetables, preserved vegetables, peanuts), on a bed of rice.

You are to mix the two and it is like a congee that tastes just 100x better

"Chee cheong fun" toppings include: fried shallots, chilli, many sauce

You may have seen rice noodle rolls filled with various meats or shrimp during dimsums, but in Malaysia, they don't have anything inside, and are just thin rolls of slippery smooth goodness topped with different things wherever you go. In Hong Kong I've had many of the rice noodle rolls that have fillings inside, but none of them compare to the extremely fresh rice noodle rolls I've had in Malaysia in terms of their texture, thinness, and flavour.

Lo Mee topped with pork, crispy fried shallots, and yes a side of mint!

Lo mee is a thicker noodle with a thick sweetened sauce that you have to "lo" (mix) with the toppings. Need I say that this is also very delicious?

And I end the breakfast with traditional Malaysian kueh which are steamed puddings heavily made with coconut milk and coconut sugar. They vary according to the different ingredients put in such as: pumpkin puree, cassava, sago, pandan juice, glutinous rice...

In Malaysia, it's only acceptable to end even breakfasts with a sweet dessert

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

Remember the Sake Bar that I wrote a post on a while back? If not that's fine (I wasn't really intending that you did anyway) because I just wanted to bring up that the waitress that my friends and I all go there for (for she is an extremely adorable waitress) is moving to another bar across the street! *sad face*

And now that August is nearing its last days, I must make the most of the rest of my summer vacation by hopefully trying out the new Fin Izakaya that opened up in Oakville *yay*

What are your last destinations before the start of school?

, by vickichowder

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NIGHT + MARKET, LOS ANGELES

SS15 ROJAK & CENDOL, MALAYSIA

IPOH, MALAYSIA

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NIGHT + MARKET, LOS ANGELES

SS15 ROJAK & CENDOL, MALAYSIA

IPOH, MALAYSIA

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